When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 137



Only Noblemtl

137. Would you like to develop your abilities?
2024.03.16.

I was a little startled when I looked at Bliss’s embroidery.

The guy was… embroidering a pale-skinned spirit.

The spirit that he often summoned and had inhabit his weapons.

Of course, I knew it was something he was very familiar with, but… it felt a little creepy, so I slowly took a step back.

‘Is Delsey the only one who can embroider something like flowers?’

I looked around and then looked at Cheonggwang’s embroidery.

Cheonggwang seemed to be quite skilled, embroidering a dragon with golden thread.

It was good enough to be attached to the king’s royal robe right away.

And Rubin… … .

“Nike, help me! I’ve managed to fit the fabric into the frame, but I can’t hold the needle!”

Rubin pleaded to me while showing me his fluffy forepaws.

Since he didn’t have long fingers like a human, he probably couldn’t hold a needle.

I stared at Rubin’s small, furry paws for a while before saying,

“Rubin’s out.”

“What the!! This is too much!! You have to let this go!!”

“If you can’t embroider, anyone is out. Even if you have paws that can’t hold a needle, there’s nothing you can do. Luciana and Elodie were also out because they tore the fabric.”

Luciana and Elodie nodded at Rubin after hearing what I said.

As if telling him to accept his elimination like them.

I spoke firmly to him.

“For the sake of fairness, there’s nothing we can do.”

“Tch… … . I wanted to be Arom’s prospective parents… … .”

Rubin grumbled a little, but eventually accepted his elimination.

In that situation, even Rubin was out

. The first round of testing was gradually ripening.

“Finished!”

Dionik was the first to say so and showed me the completed embroidery.

Already finished? I looked at Dionik’s embroidery, a little surprised that it was much faster than I thought.

And after seeing his embroidery, I could only say,

“Did you do it with your feet…?”

It was a total mess.

It was so messy that I thought it would be better if you held the needle with your toes instead of your hands.

I hesitated for a while about whether to disqualify him or not.

Dionik, who saw me worrying, quickly opened his mouth.

“You didn’t say how to embroider, did you? You just said to sit down and embroider calmly.”

“That’s true, but….”

“I didn’t break any rules, so I passed. Right?”

“Hmm….”

I stared at the guy’s embroidery, which had a mess of threads, and eventually nodded.

“Yes, the rules must be followed. You didn’t say what the end result should be, so Dionik passed.”

In the meantime, Cheonggwang finished his embroidery, and Petros, Delsi, and Argelio also presented their results.

Cheonggwang brought me a golden dragon like we saw earlier, and Petros brought me a pretty lily that a noble lady would embroider.

Delsi embroidered a deep purple violet, and Argelio brought me a plain letter embroider.

In any case, all of their embroidery was flawless, so I had no choice but to pass them all.

Finally, Bliss brought me the finished product.

I was silent for a while, looking at the ghost embroidery (…) that looked even more gloomy than the one I saw earlier.

Bliss asked me, looking at my silence.

“Are you impressed?”

“No, I was worried… … . I’m worried about your emotions. How could you embroider such a gloomy thing?”

“But you still passed?”

“Hmm… … .”

Could I entrust cute Arom to a guy who embroidered such extraordinary embroidery?

I hesitated, but since Bliss hadn’t broken the rules, I had no choice but to pass him as well.

First of all, the picture was a bit gloomy, but the embroidery itself was quite skillfully done.

After giving each of the embroidery pieces used in the evaluation back to them as souvenirs, I continued.

“Let’s start the second test right away. Thomas, bring it to me.”

This time, Thomas listened to me and went outside to bring a tray.

On the tray Thomas brought was a test paper that I had written myself.

I picked up the test paper and spoke to those who passed the first test.

“The second test, as I mentioned earlier, is a ‘test of judgment.’ From now on, I’m going to give you questions one by one to test your judgment.”

I waved the paper in my hand and continued explaining.

“You can listen to the questions and answer freely. Then I’ll tell you on the spot whether you passed or failed. Let’s start with Dionik first.”

“Okay, whatever question you want, just give it to me.”

“Okay, first question.”

I cleared my throat and continued with the question.

“Let’s say you and Arom are trapped on a deserted island. There’s only enough food for one person to eat for ten days. And the rescue ship is scheduled to arrive in five days. So how are you going to distribute the food?”

“Ah, this is easy.”

Dionik confidently answered.

“Since there’s ten days’ worth of food for one person, if you divide it by two, you’ll have exactly five days’ worth of food.”

“You’re going to split the food equally with Arom?”

“Yeah, if you divide it equally, you’ll have five days’ worth of food, and no one will be able to survive for five days without starving.”

I nodded quietly after hearing Dionik’s answer.

Then I said.

“Dionik is eliminated.”

“What!?”

As expected, Dionik didn’t accept the elimination easily. He

immediately protested to me, furious.

“Why am I being eliminated?! I didn’t say I would monopolize the food!! What on earth is the correct answer!!”

“The correct answer is ‘Give Arom all 10 days’ worth of food.’”

“… … .”

I explained further to Dionik, who still seemed unconvinced.

“They said the rescue ship would arrive in 5 days, but due to bad weather, it could take 7 days or 10 days.”

“… … .”

“If we split the food in half and share it, and the rescue ship is late due to bad weather, Arom will starve for days.”

Dionik opened his mouth as if he was shocked.

However, he had no intention of accepting my protest.

I firmly stated,

“You don’t care enough about Arom. That’s why you’re being eliminated.”

The guy opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something more, but in the end, he went to the eliminated person’s seat and sat down.

Next up was Petros.

I gave him a problem.

“Let’s say I offer you 500 gold coins if you give up Arom.”

“Will you really give me 500 gold coins if you give up?”

“… … You’re eliminated.”

I boldly eliminated Petros. How

could he be tempted by 500 gold coins over custody of Arom?

He wasn’t qualified to be Arom’s parent.

That’s how I continued to take the test.

Dionique and Petros, who had taken the test before, were eliminated, and Argelio was also eliminated.

Argelio complained to me that the name ‘Arom’ wasn’t very good and that he needed a new one, so I just eliminated him.

‘Now all that’s left are Delsi, Bliss, and Cheonggwang… … .’

I looked at the three who still passed.

Cheonggwang and Delsi seemed like good parents to anyone, but Bliss… I’m not sure.

Would it really be okay to leave Arom with him?

Anyway, since he hadn’t been eliminated yet, he was qualified to take the third test.

I cleared my throat and said,

“Now let’s begin the third test. The third test is to get Arom’s choice. First, stand in a line.”

I instructed the three who passed.

Soon, Bliss, Delsey, and Cheonggwang lined up in a single line.

I looked at them while holding Arom and said,

“I’m going to let Arom go like this. Each of you use your own methods to lure Arom into your arms.”

Bliss smiled and asked,

“Are you asking me to be chosen? By any means necessary?”

“Uh… That’s what I meant, but why does it sound so dangerous when you say it like that? Don’t use anything too violent. If you do anything that could harm Arom, you’ll be disqualified immediately.”

“Understood. Then I understand that any other method you use is fine.”

“… … Okay.”

Looking into Bliss’s sparkling eyes, I had an ominous feeling for some reason, but I had to start the test anyway.

I gently placed Arom on the floor and whispered to her,

“Now, go to the person you like the most.”

“Pfft!”

Arom answered vigorously and flew up.

Did she understand what I said? Arom quickly looked over the successful candidates lined up.

The first person she saw was Delsey.

The moment her eyes met Arom’s, Delsey smiled brightly.

“Arom, come here.”

Delsi, who said that with a bright smile… looked like an angel who had just descended from heaven.

He had a gentle and kind face, but when he smiled, he seemed to exude a more divine aura than me, the Pope.

Arom also seemed to feel that way and was about to go to Delsi.

At that moment, Cheonggwang stepped forward.

“Arom, if you come to Cheonggwang, I will show you something fun.”

Cheonggwang created water in the air.

Cheonggwang began to move the water he had created to create various shapes.

He created butterflies, trees, and even a small rabbit.

After watching the show, Arom seemed to enjoy it and changed direction.

It seemed that he had changed his mind from going to Delsi to going to Cheonggwang.

However, Bliss did not stay still either.

“I guess I should take out my secret weapon too.”

He said that and began to rummage through his pockets.

Then he took out something shiny from his pocket.

I muttered quietly when I saw the shiny object.

“It’s a gold coin?”

I wondered why Bliss suddenly took out a gold coin.

Was she thinking of bribing Arom, who had no concept of currency since she was a newborn, with a gold coin?

While I was wondering, Arom reacted unexpectedly.

“Whew whew whew!!”

The little guy suddenly let out a joyful noise and quickly flew to the gold coin Bliss was holding.

Then he swallowed it in one gulp.

“Arom!! That’s not for eating!!”

I shouted urgently and ran to Arom.

But something was strange.

Arom was laughing more normally than I expected, when I thought he would be choking on a gold coin stuck in his throat.

When I looked at Arom in bewilderment, Bliss smiled and explained.

“Have you forgotten, Your Majesty? The Bulgasal is a creature that likes metal even before it hatches. It’s so much so that it will grant wishes in exchange for metal.”

“Ah.”

Now that I think about it, whenever I made a wish on the Immortal Egg, I always paid with metal. Who

would have thought that it would like metal even after hatching from the egg?

Well, that could be possible… I was nodding my head in agreement when

an unfamiliar system message popped up.

[Gold coins were paid to the divine beast “Arom”. You can now unleash the divine beast “Arom”‘s first ability. Would you like to unleash it?]

―Yes

―No